Finally, voters are turning up to vote

After a sluggish beginning to these elections in terms of voter turnout, things seem to be improving. According to data released by the Election Commission, after four rounds of voting—the overall turnout has been 66.95%. Also: The recently-concluded fourth phase saw 69.16% of the electorate turn up to vote—the highest so far. Across the nine states that voted in this phase, Andhra Pradesh saw a record voter turnout of 81%. To compare: in 2019, 79.74% of voters came out to vote in AP. Hindu Businessline has more on the state. (Hindustan Times)

Fresh trouble for AAP

In a shocking accusation, AAP Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal accused a close aide of Arvind Kejriwal—Bibhav Kumar—of assaulting her at the chief minister’s residence. 

According to the FIR, on May 13, Maliwal visited Kejriwal’s camp office at his Civil Lines residence, where she called and messaged Kumar, who manages the CM’s appointments, but couldn’t reach him…“PS of CM, Bibhav Kumar, barged in suddenly… he started screaming without provocation and abused me… he slapped me seven to eight times while I continued screaming… I was screaming for help again and again but no one came

Kumar was arrested by the Delhi Police on Friday. Things took a weird turn with AAP: The party first accepted that Kumar was at fault, but three days later it took a U-turn and claimed that Maliwal was a “pawn” in a conspiracy by the BJP against Kejriwal. 

Why this matters: The matter comes just a week before Delhi is set to vote in these elections, and BJP is trying its level best to capitalise on the incident: “Given the publicity around the incident, people across the city know what happened and BJP leaders have been speaking about the incident to make sure it remains in the public discourse.” Indian Express has more. 

Kanhaiya Kumar attacked

On Friday, Congress leader Kanhaiya Kumar was attacked in Northeast Delhi while campaigning. 

The incident occurred when Kumar was coming out of the office after a meeting with local councillor Chhaya Sharma. “Some persons came and put garland around Sh. Kanhaiya Kumar. After garlanding him, some persons threw ink on Sh. Kanhaiya Kumar and tried to assault him. When Smt. Chhaya Sharma tried to intervene, they misbehaved and threatened her,” Sharma's complaint read.

Thankfully, he was not injured severely. The two attackers have been identified—and one of them is a member of an outfit called Hindu Raksha Dal. (Hindustan Times)

RSS workers in Uttar Pradesh are unhappy

According to a ground report by The Print, RSS workers in Uttar Pradesh are unhappy with the BJP government for not doing much for them despite being in power for 10 years. 

They claim that the government, despite being “their own”, has done nothing to improve their lives. In issues like job postings, registering FIRs, or obtaining loans, the life of an ordinary RSS swayamsevak has barely changed under BJP governance.

 

There are also more overtly political issues creating tension between the BJP and its ideological parent. A near-complete neglect of the RSS in ticket distribution this time, a preference for “outsiders” over karyakartas who have served the party for decades, and a general sense that the BJP has grown “arrogant” and “does not need” the organisation as before have all disillusioned the karyakartas—pillars of the party’s electoral machinery.

Point to note: These karyakartas are key to BJP’s grassroots outreach in the state—and because of their dissatisfaction the campaigning in UP has been lukewarm at best. But, but, but: Their loyalties remain strong for the party. The Print has lots more.

Some elections things to see 

PM Modi’s defence: The Prime Minister protested his innocence—rejecting claims that he targets Muslims—saying things like “the day I do Hindu-Muslim, I will be unworthy of public life” and “it is my resolve” that “I will not do Hindu-Muslim” etc etc. This came on the heels of campaign speeches that described Muslims as “those who have more children, to infiltrators”—and accused Congress of planning to “redistribute” Hindus’ wealth to them. 

Modi’s version of that speech: “I have neither said Hindu or Muslim. I have said you should have as many children as you can support. Don’t create a situation where the government has to (support).” You can see clips from the CNN-News18 interview below. (Indian Express)

In yet another interview: Modi claimed that he stopped the war in Gaza during the holy month of Ramzan in March. In a conversation with India Today he said: “[Netanyahu] did his best to follow my advice. Only in the last few days was there fighting.” But, but, but: Over 800 people were killed during the first 10 days of the Ramzan in Gaza. You can watch the entire interview here.

In Hyderabad: First, the BJP wanted to ban hijab in colleges. Now, its candidate was caught bullying Muslim women into raising their veil at the polling booth (see the clip below). She was supposedly checking their face against the photo on the voter ID. Yes, a case has been filed against her. Btw, she doesn’t have a chance in hell of winning. Latha is running against AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, who won the Hyderabad seat in 2019 by a landslide. Not holding our breath for the Election Commission…  (Business Today)

A list of good reads

One: The Guardian has an excellent profile of Amit Shah—with some timely reminders about him, right before the elections.

Two: Rest of World looks at BJP’s targeted election campaigning on WhatsApp and why it is so effective. 

Three: Aakar Patel in The Wire calls out the BJP government for arresting opposition leaders and consequently undermining democracy.

Four: Shekhar Gupta in The Print argues that if the Congress manages to win 90 seats—it will be able to restrict the BJP below the 272 majority mark.